Counterterrorism mission ordered by the new commander in chief. And today we know a lot more about what went wrong. But lets begin with the latest diplomatic concerns. Cnns jeff zeleny live at the white house, good morning. Reporter good morning, carol. We heard the tough talk from the president throughout his bid for the presidency. And his tough talk also has been extending to his calls with foreign leaders. The latest, as you said, a dustup with the australian Prime Minister in a call last week that we are just learning about. It was a very confrontational phone call. This morning actually, just a few minutes ago, the president talked about how he is going to give tough talk and Straight Talk to, he says, straighten out the world. Lets listen. The world is in trouble. But were going to straighten it out, okay . Thats what i do. I fix things. Were going to straighten it out. Believe me. When you hear about the tough phone calls im having, dont worry about it. Just dont worry about it. Theyre tough. We have to be tough. Its time were going to be a little tough, folks. Were taken advantage of by every nation in the world, virtually. Its not going to happen anymore. Reporter that may sound good as campaign rhetoric, but as a diplomatic matter its a different situation. Rex tillerson, speaking at the state department in a short time, will have to deal with that tough talk and how our allies receive that. At the Prayer Breakfast this morning the president asked for a prayer for Arnold Schwarzenegger. Take a listen. Wet tremendous success on the apprentice. When i ran for president , i had to leave the show. Thats when i knew for sure that i was doing it. They hired a big movie star, around schwarzenegger, to take my place. And we know how that turned out. The ratings went right down the tubes. Its been a total disaster. And mark will ever, ever bet against trump again. And i want to just pray for arnold, if we can, for those ratings, okay . Reporter so of course, carol, that was a moment of humor, i believe, but we didnt hear much humility from the president there in that national Prayer Breakfast. Of course thats a bipartisan meeting of senators, congress men and women from across the country gathered there in the room. But interesting that he essentially confirmed our reporting this morning about those confrontational calls with foreign leaders. Carol, that is something the world is getting used to this president , as washington is as well, carol. All right, by the way, around schwarzenegg Arnold Schwarzenegger has responded. But were not going to get into that now. Its different, jeff zeleny. Reporter it is. Rex tillerson has to deal with the confrontational phone call between President Trump and the australian Prime Minister. Tough talk against iran after it carried out a Ballistic Missile test. During a phone call with mexicos president , he complained that president is not tough enough against, quote, bad hombres. Cnns Michelle Kosinski is at the state department with more. Reporter the Washington Post has detailed reporting quoting a transcript and talking to u. S. Officials who said that during this phone call, which was with one of americas closest allies and a Prime Minister that is in many ways aligned with Donald Trumps views including on immigration and refugees, that trump was angry about a prior agreement to take more than a thousand refugees from australia, that trump boasted about his win, talked about the call not going well, and saying that he had talked to other World Leaders, but that this call with the australian Prime Minister was the worst one he had had. The reporting was also that that call ended abruptly, although in an interview, the australian Prime Minister said it wasnt rude, trump didnt hang up on him, it ended cordially, although it was supposed to be an hour along and it ended after about 25 minutes. Trump tweeted last night about this, saying, do you believe it, the Obama Administration agreed to take thousands of Illegal Immigrants from australia. Why . I will study this dumb deal. Well, according to both the white house now and australia, during that call, and now, donald trump agrees with this preexisting agreement, that he is going to take these refugees. Im not sure how long that process is going to take. It still needs to go through the vetting process. But that agreement is set and trump isnt going to try to stop that. But this isnt the only contentious call with a world leader. There is also one with mexico that raised eyebrows. And part of that was, in the call, this is according to a transcript that cnn got ahold of, President Trump said you have some pretty tough hombres in mexico that you need help with, were willing to help with that big league, but they need to be knocked out and you have not done a good job knocking them out. Both the u. S. And mexico say we are going to work on these issues even though we have our differences. World leaders are trying to make the best face possible on the relationships and on the phone calls that have happened. But its definitely become another topic of conversation. Meanwhile here at the state department, hundreds of employees are waiting for the new secretary of state who was sworn in last night. He should be here at any minute now. And theyre eager to see how much his views will mesh with the trump administration, how much more clarity hell be able to add for them, as they now go about their business, carol. All right, Michelle Kosinski reporting live from the state department, who well return to shortly when Rex Tillerson begins to speak to state Department Employees there. Now the tough talk on iran. The white house saying the country is officially on notice after it carried out a Ballistic Missile test. Cnns Fred Pleitgen is back from iran. Hes from london with more on that. Reporter hi, carol. Certainly tough talk coming from both sides. We heard the statement from National Security adviser mike flynn last night where he said iran was on notice, criticizing the Ballistic Missile test that the iranians conducted last sunday. Irans leader has come out and said iran will continue to test missiles vigorously. He called donald trump an inexperienced politician and said it wasnt the first time the iranians had been threatened in this way. Youre seeing neither side back down. The big question now is how could this possibly escalate, what happens if the iranians continue to test Ballistic Missiles. They say they believe they have a right to do that, it does not violate any sort of u. N. Resolution as long as those missiles are not capable of carrying nuclear warheads. The iranians say theyre not. The u. S. Has a different view. But certainly it seems as though the relations, if there ever were any, between the u. S. And iran that seemed to be warming up a little bit in the obama years, seemed to be getting off to an extremely rocky start. I can tell you, carol, there are many people in iran right now who are quite concerned as to which way all of this could go. It was interesting, i was just there a couple of days days ago. Even hardliners say we dont know about donald trump, we dont know what hes going to do when he actually is president , what his presidency is going to be like. Some of them even thought because hes a former businessman he might be able to do deals with iran. Of course the country has great oil wells, boeing wants to sell a hundred planes to iran and has a deal with iran. Certainly it seems now everything is called into question, as Michael Flynn has made those comments and the iranians are certainly not backing down even an inch at this point, carol. K pleitgen, r live from london. Our Cnn International editor nic robertson, hi, nic. Reporter hi there, carol. The Prime Minister of australia has said that he doesnt really want to get into the details publicly, he says its better to be able to speak frankly and privately in these sorts of conversations. However, what he has said is that the call, while it may have ended abruptly, he said it did end courteously. This is how he put it. The report that the president hung up is not correct. The call ended courteously. And as far as the nature of the discussion, it was very frank and forthright. I stand up for australias interests. I make australias case as powerfully and persuasively as i can wherever i am. Reporter so this is actually done, the Prime Minister, some good at home, this puts him up in the popularity stakes, if you will. He was criticized over the weekend for the initial readout of that phone call on the back of the refugee travel restrictions, that he wasnt being strong enough, that he wasnt being a strong leader. Once this revelation came out in australia, at least, Malcolm Turnbull is now looked upon as being a stronger, firmer leader. For other leaders around the world right now, they will look to that conversation and realize there is a potential for any conversation they have with President Trump, that it may be leaked, and that they may be judged by their people by the strength of that conversation. But lets not forget, the United States and australia have strong counterterrorism ties. There are hundreds of marines based in the northern city, of darwin. This relationship with australia is an important one at many levels. Counterterrorism being a very important narrative for President Trump right now, very important in that context. This is strained, its not a conversation the australians will want to jump into again quickly. Nic robertson reporting live with the reaction from australia. Lets talk about mexico, shall we . According to a phone call transcript, President Trump actually made an offer to the mexico president to help him deal with their drug cartel problems using the term bad hombres. Cnns Shasta Darlington is live in mexico city with reaction on that. Good morning. Reporter good morning, carol. Thats right, whats interesting about this conversation is that it was supposed to be lower the temperature after donald trump signed an executive order saying the wall is going to go up. And after mexican president Enrique Pena Nieto cancelled a trip to washington. This was supposed to be their way to agree on some issues. What is interesting about this excerpt we saw is the colorful language. Basically the president of the United States telling the president of mexico, youve got some tough hombres, were willing to help, but theyve got to be knocked out and youre not doing a good enough job. Its offer of help, but its interpreted here as another humiliation, another slight against the president , youre not doing a good job. At the same time, this contradicts some reports out there that trump had threatened to actually send the army in. Officials on both sides have said that is not true. What we have seen is mexicans are beginning to unite behind what was a very unpopular president. When we see these kind of humiliations, it certainly doesnt help him. Hes busy trying to figure out what can be renegotiated with mexico, whats on the table, what isnt. He needs all the support he can get, carol. Shasta darlington live from mexico city. Lets turn to another potential hit to u. S. Diplomacy, reports of civilian casualties in yemen in the raid that left one american soldier dead. Reporter thats right, carol, this raid was months in the works. But because of certain operational requirements, mainly the need for the absence of movement to conceal the special operations teams movements, the mission was delayed, and trump green lit the mission. The mission encountered some problems while entering yemen. They were detected, the uae navy s. E. A. L. Teams were detected by the Al Qaeda Group there early. So a gun battle broke out involving grenades, heavy weapons, air strikes. This was a very intense fight. It saw the navy s. E. A. L. Fatally wounded, 14 al qaeda fighters killed. And as well, were learning, a number of civilians likely killed. The military working to confirm that. Yesterday, last night, they released a statement saying the initial information showed that civilian casualties were likely, including children a possibility. Local reports also showing there was a number of civilian casualties as well, pictures of that being released. Were trying to understand a little bit what happened there. The military is actually fairly happy with some of the intelligence that was gathered. We know they recovered hard drives that the military says is already yielding intelligence about the terror group, considered the al qaeda franchise most capable, most able to attack western targets. All right, ryan brown, thanks so much. Were seeing the new secretary of state Rex Tillerson, hes affirmed at t arrived at the state department now. Hes in the lobby there. The state department has been through much turmoil. Lots of people have left in light of the new trump administration. So Rex Tillerson will presumably talk about mr. Trumps Foreign Policy and how exactly that Foreign Policy will be carried out. Lets listen to secretary of state Rex Tillerson. Well, good morning, all. We apologize for being late. It seemed that this years Prayer Breakfast, people felt the need to pray a little longer. [ laughter ] but i certainly welcome you all. Thank you for such a warm reception. Its a pleasure to be here, obviously. Ive been anxious to be here. Im so pleased to have my wife brenda of more than 30 years, she has been steadfast through this process, encouraging me on and reminding me what this is really all about. And so thank you. [ applause ] i also want to thank acting secretary tom shannon, who has just been superb through this entire process. Tom, thank you so much. [ cheers and applause ] it was truly and indeed an honor that tom joined this office last night for my swearingin, and i appreciated that he was there. I obviously also want to recognize and thank all of you here at headquarters of our state department, the staff and partners around the world, who have faithfully performed your duties regardless of who was in charge. It was so important. I know many of you have assisted ambassadors and other officials during the Senate Confirmation process and indeed some of you have been through it yourself. Having just come through it for the first time, i can assure you, the senate still takes it as serious as ever. Theyre as energetic as ever, theyre as thorough as ever. But were here. [ applause ] in the days and weeks ahead, well have plenty of opportunity to discuss in more detail the goals, the priorities, and the Strategic Direction for our organization. But for now, i really want to take a few minutes to communicate my high regard for the men and women of the state department and share with you some principles for all of us to live by as we pursue our shared mission. The individuals who comprise this department are among the finest Public Servants in the world. Many of you serve our nation abroad and have served our nation abroad. State Department Staffers in the field are not just conduits for policies and plans. You are our emissaries of our nation and the ideals we stand for. When people see you, they see america. When i wake up each morning, the very first thing i ask myself is, are all of our people safe. The safety of every Single Member of our state Department Family, regardless of where he or she is posted, is not just a priority for me. Its a core value. And it will become a core value of this department. [ applause ] this means the state Department Family here in the u. S. And all those agencies serving under chief of missions abroad, including Civil Service, Foreign Service officers, and specialists, locally engaged staff of host country and third country nationals, interns, fellows, support contractors, and implementing partners, and not least of all, the family members who support us at home and in our service to our country overseas. The Foreign Service is not the only component of the state department. The Civil Service workforce at the state department plays an indispensable role in all we achieve. And we cannot attain success without the Mission Critical services that you provide. We often live in a world of headlines, working outside of the public eye does not make you any less essential to our operations. Your dedication, your intelligence, and your sound judgment are the brick and mortar elements of all we do. We all depend on your good work. And i know it will continue. One of the great [ applause ] one of the great challenges and thrills for the state Department Staff is deciding how to confront changing conditions in every corner of the world. And i encourage all of you to use your that much and welldeveloped skills to adapt to changes here at home as well. I know this was a hotly contested election and we do not all feel the same way about the outcome. Each of us is entitled to the expression of our political beliefs. But we cannot let other personal convictions overwhelm our ability to work as one team. Let us be understanding with each other about the times we live in as we focus our energies on our departmental goals. As secretary, i will deploy the talent and resources of the state department in the most efficien efficient ways possible. That may entail making some changes to how things are traditionally done in this department. Change for the sake of change can be counterproductive. That will never be my approach. But we cannot sustain ineffective traditions over optimal outcomes. I will gather information on what processes should be reformed and do my part to make sure we are functioning in the most productive and efficient way possible. Regardless of the circumstances, shaping our country or our department, we must all remain focused on the mission at hand before us. I remind you that our undertakings are larger than ourselves or our personal careers. Our duty is to faithfully represent our nation in the arena of foreign affairs. If we stay focused on the work before us, i promise i will work to ensure you achieve your own personal success and your professional satisfaction in what you are doing. For every individual who works at the state department, i ask that we adopt a few core principles. First, i believe that any organization runs best when all of its members embrace accountability. From the mailroom to the boardroom, every member of a team has a job to do. I know nobody will always be perfect, and that certainly includes me. But i ask that everyone strive for excellence and assume responsibility for their actions and their decisions. The new England Patriots have signs posted all over their Team Facilities that simply say, do your job. It is a brief message but one with profound importance. If we all do our jobs and embrace our willingness to be held accountable for our performance, we work better as a unit, move closer to attaining our goals. Its worked pretty well for the patriots over the years, as i must admit. Secondly, i want us to be honest with one another. Were on the same team. We share the same mission. Honesty will undergird our Foreign Policy. And well start by making it the basis of how we interact with each other. Lastly, were going to treat each other with respect. No one will tolerate disrespect of anyone. Before we are employees of the state department, we are human beings first. Let us extend respect to each other, especially when we may disagree. What i ask of you and what i demand of myself, i will embrace accountability, honesty, and respect no less than anyone. Before President Trump called me, i thought i would be entering retirement this spring. After four decades of business experience. Brenda and i were ready to head off to the ranch and enjoy our grandchildren. But when i came back from my first meeting with President Trump and he asked me to do this, brenda said, you didnt know it, but youve been in a 41year Training Program for this job. [ applause ] so despite our own dreams, she said, youre supposed to do this. Well, my first days here, im on the job, hi, im the new guy. [ applause ] as such, i will depend on the expertise of this institution. There are over 75,000 members of the state department workforce. Both foreign and Civil Service employees with an average of over 11 years of service in the department. I have 25 minutes. You have accumulated knowledge and experience that cannot be replicated anywhere else. Your wisdom, your work ethic, and patriotism is as important as ever. And as your secretary, i will be proud to draw upon all these qualities in my decisionmaking. I ask that you join me in upholding high standards of ethics and professionalism, committing to personal accountability and honesty and respecting your colleagues. There will undoubtedly be times of victory but there will also be many times of difficulty. Lets go forward as a team through all of it. Lets make the American People proud of what we do in this building and beyond. Inscribed on the walls in this lobby are the names of fallen Foreign Service personnel who in the words of abraham lincoln, gave their last full measure of devotion. They died in service of causes far greater than themselves. As we move forward in a new era, it is important to honor the sacrifices of those who have come before us and reflect on the legacy that we inherit. In closing, im honored to be serving alongside each of you as i serve our nation as the secretary of state. So now im going to take a moment and pay my respects to those individuals that are memorialized on this wall and then i look forward to making the rounds and greeting you personally. It may take me a few days. But in all sincerity, i do hope to have the opportunity to shake the hand of every one of you thats here. Thank you so much. [ applause ] all right. Secretary of state Rex Tillerson talking to state Department Employees. And now hes going to go down and meet and greet them. Hopefully a lot of them individually, because morale has not been great at the state department. We certainly got a taste of who Rex Tillerson is. Welcome to all of you. Julian, Rex Tillerson is certainly very charming. You can see why so many people liked him on capitol hill leading up to his confirmation. Yeah, his demeanor is in some ways the opposite of President Trump. And so i think many senators certainly are looking for someone in the inner circle of the president who can balance the other attitude that weve seen in the phone calls and in the statements in the last few weeks. There is a question of how influential hell be, though, given the direction of this white house, diplomacy seems low on the list. He has a big challenge if hes going to have his say in those oval office meetings. He certainly does have big challenges, well get to those in just a second. I want to concentrate on just his demeanor, because i think for a lot of people watching, it was very comforting, the message he sent to the employees, the principles they were to follow, embrace accountability, be honest with each other, treat each other with respect. Employees like to hear those things from teheir bosses. Yeah, hes walking into a state department that has just been part of what is probably the most widespread dissent channel cable since that was set up in 1971. And for viewers who dont know what that is, in the middle of vietnam war, the state department created an official channel so that employees could offer official dissent. It was a way so that employees wouldnt leak things or go to the press. That channel has been used numerous times. But by far, from what we know publicly, and not all of these dissents are made public, but from what we know, the 900 to 1,000 state Department Employees who signed onto this dissent this week is probably the most widespread use of that channel in its history. So hes walking into a state department that has deep reservations about the president of the United States, deep reservations about the executive order ban on immigration. Thats what the dissent was about. And so i think he walked a fine line there in his speech between sort of reaching out to those employees and saying, look, i understand the culture of this place. But also at one point saying lets not let our personal views about politics interfere with the job we have. So i think thats the balance he struck there and was frankly probably reassuring to a lot of employees. Much different, carol, than the white house earlier in the week, which said that if people had differences of opinion, they should go. So i want to get the military protector from colonel francona, because much of the world is very confused by Donald Trumps actions. You would expect Rex Tillerson to have World Leaders calling him, reaching out to him on day one like perhaps the president of mexico, the Prime Minister of australia, to name a few. Maybe he has to calm fears with iran. From a military perspective, because im sure our military leaders have been watching whats been occurring over the last few days with interest. So what would they think of Rex Tillersons demeanor and his speech today . I think this is very reassuring to them. Weve had this conversation before, when the president chose general mattis to be his secretary of defense. Likewise and when he chose secretary tillerson as the secretary of state. Many of the Senior Military Leadership in the United States believe that these were good choices because they put a more social veneer, i guess, but also a calming influence. So where youve got the president being a little tough, as he said, new sheriff in town, youve got very calming influences at the pentagon and at state department. And these are probably the two most important National Security posts in the country. So i agree with ryan, i think this was a very reassuring address to the employees, but it also i think to the American People and to the u. S. Military, that weve got some adult leadership in place, and theyre going to be advising the president. So is that how its going to go, julian, donald trump will sort of throw a bomb into things and Rex Tillerson and general mattis will come to the rescue, so to speak . Its not that easy. I think when the president is making calls like this and making provocative statements this way, they have a much bigger effect than anything the secretary of defense or the secretary of state are going to be able to do. President trump can undercut all the personal work that theyre trying to do. And so i think we need to be a little cautious. Its also notable, he didnt speak a lot just now about diplomacy itself. It was more organization man, talking about restoring how the organization works, rather than what will the role of the diplomacy be in the trump administration. I think thats what were all waiting to see right now. And ryan, Many Americans who voted for donald trump like Donald Trumps tough stance. They want him to be tougher with countries all over the world, especially australia, they want to restore americas respect in the world. How much will diplomacy matter in that sense . Look, i think tillerson is going to have to fight for his seat at the table at the nsc. Hes going to have to fight for influence, as frankly all secretaries of state do. There is traditionally a very difficult relationship between the secretary of state and often the secretary of defense. And the secretary of defense and the National Security adviser. And so, so far it looks like Michael Flynn is it does seem like hes going to be a fairly influential National Security adviser. Thats going to be competition for Rex Tillerson. So hes going to have to find ways to make sure that the president has his ear. Because he does have different views on some of the big important issues. Tillerson in his career as ceo of exxon was not known for one interested in military confrontation. He was one perhaps to a fault to his critics, always looking for engagement, including with some of the more hostile regimes around the world, for instance he had a Good Relationship with putin, and a Good Relationship or at least exxonmobil did, with iran. So typical international businessman, not trying to, you know, enter into conflicts with states, but enter into business transactions. It will be interesting to see what he brings from that world into the world of diplomacy, because so far the president is offering some pretty tough words towards, for instance, iran right now. Exactly. I have to leave it there, ryan lizza, julian salazar, Lieutenant Colonel francona, thanks to all of you. There are fast moving developments on the hill, our reporters are digging. Did not feel like a cloud. That driverless car . I have seen it all. Intels driving. The future traffic lights, street lamps. Business runs on the cloud. And the cloud runs on intel. I wonder what the other 2 runs on. car horn wont replace the full value of your totaled new car. The guy says you picked the wrong insurance plan. No, i picked the wrong insurance company. With Liberty Mutual new car replacement™, you wont have to worry about replacing your car because youll get the full value back including depreciation. 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Reporter this vote over Scott Pruitts nomination to head epa, very, very controversial. Democrats are trying their hardest to delay it as long as possible. And theyve boycotted not just todays vote but also yesterday, not showing up, to prevent this action happening in the committee, the Committee Rules requiring at least two democrats to be present, to have a vote before the full senate can act. So the republicans are taking matters in their own hands. Right now theyre waiting for democrats to appear at this hearing. Theyre not going to come. And expect republicans to use their own power to push this nomination through and even change the rules of the committee to do just that. We just had a chance to talk to the chairman of the committee. He made very clear this nomination is moving forward. Scott pruitt will be voted out of committee today. He will get to the floor of the United States senate. And he will be confirmed as the next administrator of the epa. Reporter but the rules require two democrats to be sitting in a quorum. All democrats are invited to the committee. I met earlier this morning with senator carper, the ranking member. He indicated the democrats would not be attending. Were going to have a meeting today and make sure that scott pruitt is advanced to the floor of the senate. Reporter now, this is a rare unusual moment on capitol hill, were seeing this happen, democrats boycotting committee hearings, republicans changing the rules to send these nominations to the floor of the senate. This happened yesterday in the Senate Finance committee, when tom price, to lead health and human services, and Steven Mnuchin to lead the treasury department, both were advanced to the full Senate Despite democrats boycotting and as republicans suspended the rules to move them forward. A bit of hardball politics on both sides, also a sign that donald trump is going to get most if not all of his cabinet confirmed because the republicans are in the majority and theyre using their power full well, carol. Manu raju, thank you very much. Lets focus on specifics, starting with the office of management and budget. Michael mulvaney is up for that job. So fill us in on what happens next to him. Reporter it will be an interesting day for Mick Mulvaney. He has to go through two Committee Votes. One of them should be fine, but for the other one, senator john mccain has made it clear hes opposed to the pick, strong in his opposition to Mick Mulvaney based on mulvaneys positions on defense spending when he was in the house that john mccain did not agree with. Carol, that doesnt stop Mick Mulvaney. He will still get to the senate floor and move forward. But it has been interesting to watch how this has all happened. Carol, i also want to draw your attention to one other thing. We spoke to senator mccain as he was walking into the hearing. There are a number of issues hes focused on on Foreign Policy, whether the special forces raid in yemen or the president s call with australia with the australian leader. He had very strong comments on that specifically. Take a listen. Australia fought alongside us in wars, including losing over 500 brave australians in the vietnam war, which some of us remember. And this in my view was an unnecessary and frankly harmful open dispute over an issue which is not nearly as important as United States australian cooperation and working together including training of our marines in australia and other areas of military cooperation and intelligence. Reporter carol, basically what youre hearing there from senator mccain is hes talking about a crucial relationship. Youre also seeing the blowback of these leader calls as the details of these private calls are starting to come out. Key senators, crucial senators, obviously senator mccain is the Top Republican on the Senate Armed Services committee, expressing major concern about what this means going forward, that these arent just simple calls, that these have wide ranging implications with allies of the United States. Expect it to be a constant topic of conversation on capitol hill, carol. Right now, phil, republicans are helping President Trump as much as they can. If these kinds of things like with australia and mexico keep bubbling up, how long will powerful republicans be willing to help President Trump . Reporter the best way to look at this, ive been talking about republican aides on house and senate side for weeks about this issue, whats the Tipping Point, when the president does something that is found to be either so abhorrent or against the kind of conservative ethos or ideology that they would break with him entirely. Their viewpoint is, they control the house, senate, and finally, the white house, that means they can get things done legislatively. Theyre express concerns when they have them but theyre focused on tax reform, repeal and replacement of the Affordable Care act, thats where their focus remains, even though there are other things going on particularly on Foreign Policy. Like National Security . Especially when it comes to iran, that enters the picture too. Reporter no question at all. But the interesting part is, we asked senator mccain about iran specifically, and he had no problems with what was said yesterday. He have made the point that putting iran on notice is something that, and he stated this throughout the course of the Obama Administration, that he wished president obama would have done. So its the interesting split here, carol, where you see that they have different perspectives on different things, and theyre going to split, especially individuals like senator mccain or senator lindsey graham, theyve made no secret of their disagreements on Foreign Policy issues. But again, theyre looking towards legislative agendas, things they couldnt get done with a democrat in the white house. Theyre trying to divide the two, if you will, or at least separate the two, as long as they possibly can. And i said, you know, what is the trigger point, what is the Tipping Point where that all of a sudden stops . We havent been able to identify it yet. Phil mattingly reporting live for us, thank you so much. Lets talk about President Trumps pick for education secretary, betsy devos. Sunlen serfaty is covering that. What might her day look like . Reporter betsy devos, trumps nominee for education secretary, is standing on shaky ground due to two big time republican defections, two republican senators coming out and saying they will not vote for her. Where that stands is if no other republicans add to their breaking of rank, if no other republicans decide to vote against her, that would lead to a 5050 tie in the senate. And that is including senator Jeff Sessions yes vote for her before he is confirmed for attorney general. This all boils down to the issue that this leads to Vice President mike pence likely having to come up here on capitol hill in his capacity as president of the senate and vote for betsy devos. That would be the tie breaking vote, something the Senate Historian tells us this morning has never happened before, where you have a sitting Vice President casting and cementing in a cabinet official into place. Now, Republican Leadership aides and the white house say they are confident she will get through. But there are a lot of question marks, drama around this. Tomorrow there will be the next procedural vote on betsy devos in the stenate. Gop aides tell me that will push her final confirmation potentially into monday. Sunlen serfaty, reporting live for us. Thank you so much. Manu raju, i just got a very urgent message to go back to mond manu raju from my producer. What do you have for us . Reporter right now the republicans are voting to suspend the rules and send the nomination of mr. Pruitt, scott pruitt, to lead the Environmental Protection agency, circumventing democrats who have boycotted for a second straight day this Committee Vote. The rules require two democrats to be present in order to have that Committee Vote before the full senate can confirm mr. Pruitt to that position. But republicans for a second straight day, doing something we really have not seen, to suspend the rules altogether, to send pruitts nomination to the floor. So right now, this just happened, pruitt was approved by 110 vote. All 11 republicans voting yes. Democrats did not show up, suspending the rules, sending pruitt to the floor of the United States senate. Now the third nomination to go through this unusual procedure, a sign of the lengths republicans are going to make sure donald trump gets his cabinet as democrats do everything they can to stall and delay and frustrate some of the more controversial nominees, carol. All right, drama on capitol hill this morning, manu raju, thanks for your fine reporting. Up next, donald trump says a prayer for Arnold Schwarzenegger and his apprentice ratings. All right. Everyone is still buzzing about what donald trump said about Arnold Schwarzenegger and his apprentice ratings at the national Prayer Breakfast in washington, dc earlier this morning. Mr. Trump basically said he would pray for arnolds ratings, pray for them to get better. Lets listen. We had tremendous success on the apprentice. When i ran for president , i had to leave the show. Thats when i knew for sure i was doing it. And they hired a big, big movie star, Arnold Schwarzenegger, to take my place. And we know how that turned out. The ratings went right down the tubes. Its been a total disaster. And mark will never, ever bet against trump again. And i want to just pray for arnold, if we can, for those ratings, okay . So mark burnett is an executive producer, thats who hes talking about, mr. Burnett introduced mr. Trump at that Prayer Breakfast. Arnold schwarzenegger, as i said, he has responded. And of course he responded via tweet, so lets put that up. This is what arnold said. Oh, its a sound bite, we have sound, its not a tweet, thats something new. Lets listen to what its from a tweet . Okay. Lets listen to what we have. Here is Arnold Schwarzenegger. Hey, donald, i have a great idea. Why dont we switch jobs. You take over tv, because youre such an expert in ratings, and i take over your job, and then people can finally sleep comfortably again, hmm . Ouch. So lets bring in ryan lizza, washington correspondent for the new yorker, and the author of the fierce urgency of now. Julian, since youre the author of the fierce urgency of now, i dont know what to make of this, if anything. There is the humorous part and the serious part. The humorous part is i cant believe this is what the president is talking about right now, hes engaged in a ratings back and forth with Arnold Schwarzenegger. The serious part is it points to a vin ddictive nature in donald trump. The question is how will this play out in Foreign Policy or on capitol hill . Thats why when you hear this, it can raise some red flags beyond the actual issue being discussed. Arnold schwarzenegger, ryan, was not a supporter of donald trump during the campaign, right . Hes the kind of republican that, well, that didnt vote for republican, lets just put it that way. Hes been a critic. To me it suggests that trump is having difficulty adjusting to the role of president , and hes still got a foot in his previous life. He wouldnt give up his business empire, right, he still has a stake in the trump organization, obviously. He still, if im not mistaken, has a title on the apprentice as a producer, i believe. Hes still monitoring and obsessed with the parts of his life before the presidency, which i do find a little unusual. The more conspiratorial part of me thinks this is all just fake, you know, wrestlemania type of thing, to get people to focus on the apprentice, and maybe goose the ratings, and its a fake fight. Oh, my gosh. He is still part of the apprentice. I never thought ryan lizza would get conspiratorial. I dont know if this is a real fight or, you know, the kind of fight you see in wrestling. Julian . The other way to kind of talk about that, is this the politics of distraction. This has been an issue people have been discussing. When very controversial things are taking place, whether its the executive order on refugees, or whether its all these calls with various foreign leaders and statements that are causing really explosive moments, is this a distraction, that were talking about the apprentice and his statement and not focusing on that. We dont know. We dont know if this is intentional. We dont know if hes just saying whats on the top of his mind. But the effect is that, and thats also a concern. Another moment at the national Prayer Breakfast, the Senate Chaplain came up and gave this passionate prayer, very effective. And donald trump was very appreciative of that. Here is what he said at the national Prayer Breakfast. Thank you as well to Senate Chaplain barry black for his moving words. And i dont know, chaplain, whether or not thats an appointed position, is that an appointed position . I dont even know if youre a democrat or if youre a republican. But im appointing you for another year, the hell with it. And i think its not even my appointment. Its the senates appointment. Well talk to them. Your son is here. Your job is very, very secure, okay . Thank you, barry. So definitely got a lot of laughs from the crowd. Because im running up to the end of the show, so briefly, which one of you would like to comment on that . Again, that was in some ways the least interesting part of the talk. He actually spoke about islam in very negative terms and about the kind of war were fighting. And i think those were the comments that caught my attention, or his promise to get rid of the Johnson Amendment which prohibits nonprofit organizations from getting involved in politics. That kind of humor is fine, but in some ways i think we need to look at the rest of the speech. All right, ryan lizza, julian zelizer, thanks for playing this morning. Ill be right back. Dont let unanswered legal questions hold you up, because were here, were here, and weve got your back. Legalzoom. Legal help is here. Legal help is here. [ alarm weather. Eping ] [ laughter ] cartoons. Wait for it. [ cat screech ] [ laughter ] [ screaming ] [ laughter ] make everyday awesome with the power of xfinity x1. Hi grandma and the fastest internet. [ girl screaming ] [ laughter ] in everything that matters . Coming in first place. Introducing the allnew 2017 ford super duty. The only highstrength, military grade, Aluminum Alloy body heavy duty pickup. It takes first place in every measure of tough bestinclass towing. Bestinclass payload. And bestinclass torque. Winner, winner, chicken dinner. This is the allnew ford super duty. 2017 motor trend truck of the year. Nfl commissioner Roger Goodell gave his state of the league address yesterday. He was asked if he considered himself at war with patriots fans. Cory wire has more on that in this mornings feature report. Hi. Coy, can you hear me . Coy . Reporter Roger Goodell, its been a long time since hes been to foxborough, because of deflategate. Fans want to know, how do you feel about coming back to foxborough . Here is the commissioner talking about it yesterday. It was not awkward at all for me. I was in boston two seasons ago for two executive playoff games, the same as i was in atlanta. That happens. If im invited back to foxborough, ill come. Reporter all right. So afterwards, the owner for the patriots actually invited the commissioner to the opening game for next season if the patriots indeed win the super bowl. They have to beat the falcons to do it. They have a tough task, the falcons do, going up against the pats and tom brady. I asked someone who played against brady, vaughn miller, last years super bowl mvp. I asked what makes tom terrific so great. Hes a leader. The wolfpack is only as strong as the wolf. The wolf is only as strong as the pack. That is true when it comes to the new England Patriots. They have a solid team with solid leadership. And they have a true tight wolfpack over there. Reporter the wolfpack. Its almost game day here, carol. I asked j. J. Watt. J. J. Watt said tom brady is probably the greatest of all time. Theyre letting them fly here in houston. Whatever. Cory wire, thank you so much. Go falcons. Im carol costello. At this hour with berman and bolduan starts now. Announcer this is cnn breaking news. Hello, everyone, im john berman. For now. Im kate bolduan, im still here, for now. Breaking news for everyone, tehran vows to continue firing missiles despite trump saying the iranians are, quote, officially on notice. On top of this, tension rising with allies australia and mexico after reports of heated phone calls between President Trump and the leaders of those countries. All this as his brandnew secretary of state,
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